The End

 Radiation is over! This is the machine to which I was hooked up, via an implant in my breast, twice a day for five days. It was a pretty unpleasant experience on the whole, but I feel incredibly grateful that this treatment was available to me. The radiation oncology team were all extremely kind and good at their jobs...

It is tradition to ring a bell when you complete radiation treatment. Pre-COVID days, your family could come in and sometimes the staff would come out and everyone would applaud the conclusion of your treatment.

I rang it once, all by myself. And that was just fine.

I Am Loved...

 ...and I am very very grateful.
The sweet little teddy bear was sent to me by my mommy to keep me company as I recover from surgery. She is right by my bedside!

Amazingly sweet friends sent over a whole picnic basket full of delicious wonders to enjoy while recuperating (can't wait to pop the champagne when I'm fully on the mend).

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

And this: I'm SOOOO grateful for this little warm, furry, funny, sweet, nutty canine treasure. Tallulah Mae = love.

She looks as if she's auditioning for a part in the Charlie Brown Christmas pageant, doesn't she?

Happy Thanksgiving, 2011 Edition

That's me up there--guess which one I am!--on a Thanksgiving many years ago...

Two quotes on this 2011 Thanksgiving day from Mary Oliver--a most remarkable and wise poet.

Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.

and

Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.


Wishing you a lovely day with your friends and family (or in solitude, if you choose).

P.S. Thanks for the lovely comments on yesterday's post...

I Give Thanks for...

Family: those no longer with us physically but always with us nonetheless; those to whom we speak every day; those who might live far away but always make us smile; those to whom we are connected by the blood of our forefathers; those whose faces look back at us from black-and-white photographs from long ago. They all have shaped us and made us who we are.

Friends: old and new; near and far; real and virtual; human and animal. Some have seen us at our worst while others have been with us when we were at our very lowest. Others always make us laugh, while a few have been our friends since we were very young and will always be in our hearts.

B.: my one and only, my friend and my family, every day and in every way.

I'm Also Thankful for...

My five senses and the ability to touch this velvet ear and fuzzy snout...
...to smell a wall of wisteria in bloom...
...to see one of the wonders of the world with the one I love...
...to taste an ice-cold beer after a long day...
...to hear the sweet song of a bird sitting on a wire.

I'm grateful that all of my five senses--and my four limbs and my one brain--are all in good shape and allow me to experience the world every day.

I'm Thankful for...

Living in a place where roses bloom in November.